1. Field of Invention
The present invention is directed to a method and apparatus for updating a subscriber identity in a mobile communication device. In particular, the present invention is directed to a method and apparatus for receiving a new subscriber identity and re-personalizing a mobile communication device.
2. Description of Related Art
Presently a mobile communication device may be personalized to a particular security module for security purposes. Such a security module may be a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM), a User Services Identity Module (USIM), or any other security module. The security module can contain a subscriber identity such as a code group, an International Mobile Subscriber identity (IMSI), or any other subscriber identity. The personalization is an anti-theft feature. When a mobile communication device is personalized to a particular security module, it can refuse to operate with another security module. Thus, if the mobile communication device is stolen, the thief cannot use the mobile communication device with another security module. While this does not prevent the mobile communication device from being stolen, it does make the mobile communication device less attractive to the thief.
The mobile communication device can be personalized by storing a subscriber identity of the current subscriber module in the mobile communication device and setting a personalization indicator to “on.” Then, whenever a subscriber module is inserted or the mobile communication device is powered up with a subscriber module in place, the subscriber identity is read from the subscriber module and checked against the stored subscriber identity. If there is no match, access to the mobile communication device functions is blocked and the mobile communication device may only allow emergency calls to be placed from the mobile communication device.
Unfortunately, typically the mobile communication device may only be personalized to a single subscriber identity. Also, once the mobile communication device is personalized, it cannot be easily re-personalized with a new update subscriber identity. For example, a mobile communication device cannot receive a new updated subscriber identity from a wireless network for re-personalization. Thus, there is a need for a method and an apparatus for updating a subscriber identity in a mobile communication device.